winnyfield
New Member
Should be interesting to see a comparison between the Abrams and Leo2 in a tropical environment.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_295632.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_295632.html
Leopard tanks in Australia
By Jermyn Chow
ROCKHAMPTON (Australia) - THE Singapore military's latest battle tank, the Leopard 2A4, provides a smoother ride than a car over Australia's rugged outback.
Weighing in at 55 tonnes, this German-made tank seems to iron out the gullies, potholes and humps with its torsion-bar suspension system as it tears across the scrubland at 60kmh.
Six of these tanks, shipped over from Singapore, are now being put through their paces in Rockhampton in Australia's Queensland state by the 64 men of the 48th Battalion of the Singapore Armour Regiment (SAR).
Men and machines are just getting to know each other. The troops, who learnt how to operate the four-men tanks only last month, will carry out a combination of armour group manoeuvres for the next three weeks.
Out there in the Shoalwater Bay training area, which is four times the size of Singapore, they are also having a go at firing the tank's range of armaments - a fully stabilised 120mm cannon, two 7.62mm machine guns and 16 smoke launchers.
These guns have more lethal firepower than those in the ageing SM1 tank, which will be phased out.
The 9.7m-long battle heavyweight, powered by a turbo-charged diesel engine, also out-manoeuvres similar tanks in tight spaces.
Second Lieutenant Vinoth Pannivsilvam, a tank commander, said of its nimbleness: 'We don't have to bash through thick vegetation or areas that have many trees and deadfall.'
The Leopards also trump the SM1 tanks with their ability to pick up hostile targets faster. This comes from the tank commander acting as the gunner's extra pair of eyes in scanning for enemy forces. Enemy targets are no longer taken down one by one, but en masse, and in near real-time, noted Private Dominic Tan, a full-time national serviceman and tank gunner.
When fitted with a battlefield management system, tank crews can exchange information with other SAF units to hunt down and destroy enemy forces highlighted on a digital map.
All this mobility and precision firepower come wrapped in a multi-layered armour that gives better protection from anti-tank weapons - all the better to close in on the enemy 'with greater impugnity', said Lieutenant-Colonel Ng Chia Yong, 32, the commanding officer of 48 SAR.
This means the army can hone its 'see first, see more and strike first' capability, a key feature of the Singapore Armed Forces' plan to transform itself into a third-generation fighting force.
LTC Ng said: 'We'll have the upper hand in a duel with our aggressors as we have the precise information, can manoeuvre swiftly and precisely and can deliver quicker and precise fire.'
He added, however, that any tank is only as good as its crew. 'Otherwise, it will just be a sitting duck.'
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